The Blind Will See—Tokpah’s Story

Two members from Abundant Grace, Lara Olson and Melissia McGraw, travelled to Liberia last May and helped treat patients in a remote village in Lofa county (where the current Ebola outbreak has hit).

One of the people they met was Lavelah Tokpah, a man who had been blind for over five years. It was mentioned to another AGIF member, Peter Atadja, that there were no doctors able to do the cataract surgery in Liberia needed to help Mr. Tokpah see again. Peter immediately said to get him to Ghana where the surgery could be done at his clinic.

Getting someone with no passport, who didn’t even know his date of birth, was no small task. Mr. Tokpah was starting to feel hopeless and confided in his niece he didn’t want to go on living if he had to remain blind.

His niece told him to pray, even though she knew he wasn’t a Christian.

He also doubted prayer would work since he never believed in it before, but after thinking about it, he stayed up all night to pray about getting to Ghana. The next morning prayers were answered when he got word the surgery was scheduled and tickets were purchased. A few days later his first surgery was done and he could see out of one eye.

This set of circumstances and sight restoring surgery also led to his spiritual sight when he gave his life to Christ.

After the second surgery Mr. Tokpah returned to Liberia where he asked his nephew to bring him to church so he could give his testimony. He is now back in his village and everyone knows his story because he tells them every day how God sent people from China and America to help him see. He said he was often very afraid when he was blind, but now he has Jesus and not even Ebola can scare him.